Coach confident strength of Glasgow and Edinburgh bodes well for Scotland
Glasgow forwards coach Nigel Carolan believes the form of the two Scottish club sides bodes well for the national team ahead of the Six Nations.
Both Warriors and Edinburgh are currently in the top four of the United Rugby Championship after posting five-try victories over Ospreys and Cardiff at the weekend.
There were also big victories in Europe for the Scottish pair just before Christmas, with Glasgow defeating Exeter and Edinburgh winning away to Saracens.
Irishman Carolan feels the sense of buoyancy at the two clubs can only be of benefit to national team coach Gregor Townsend as the Scots prepare to kick off their Six Nations campaign at home to England on 5 February.
He said: “Gregor’s now got two teams that are playing a brand of rugby that complements the national team. Both teams have got the ambition to play but they’re also able to back it up with execution.
“We got five tries at the weekend and Edinburgh got five tries as well, both against really gritty defensive Welsh teams.
“It’s great when the two teams are performing consistently well. I think that bodes well for the Six Nations.
“It won’t be easy but if Scotland can carry on the form of the two club sides, there are scalps to be had.”
Carolan admits Glasgow are spoiled for choice in terms of personnel and he feels that depth of talent is reflected in the Scotland set-up.
He said: “Just as we’re building depth internally, Gregor is building depth nationally with Scottish players and it’s great to see. I think having a very competitive national side is filtering down into the two clubs.
“I think we all have to complement each other. There’s a beauty in being kind of smaller in terms of only having the two teams, as long as there’s synergy or alignment between the three entities: the national team and the two clubs.”
Reflecting on his own team’s depth, Carolan said: “We still have guys like Jack Dempsey, Rufus McLean, Richie Gray and George Horne to try and accommodate, who weren’t involved at the weekend, so we’re starting to build a good bit of depth.
“It’s really healthy because, as coaches, when you have depth and confidence, we’re not really too bothered what team we select because we know everybody can perform for us.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Morning, John. Do you think that it may be a good idea to rest both teams from the Madrid comp leading in to the Olympics
2 Go to comments« I am preparing myself for much more, something much bigger. I’m focussing on the next cycle, » You don’t say…
1 Go to commentsGeez plenty of time to come right before test season starts. Dont panic mr Mannering!!!!!
1 Go to commentsGreat read Nick. The Reds really have been great to watch this year, and the improvement of not only the players you mention, but the squad in general has been obvious. The Reds 10/12 play making axis is a nice counterpoint to the 10/15 partnership at the Brumbies and Rebels. If Schmidt was to pick say, Lolesio, Paisami and Wright / Kellaway, would this be too many play makers? I notice in a lot of those clips Tim Ryan playing across the field in support of Vunivalu. Is this a feature of Kiss’s structure?
2 Go to commentsSo sad, god rest him. Too young to be gone. RIP
2 Go to commentsRIP big man 🙏
2 Go to commentsThe GB coach. “Just because we don’t get together as much as other teams we don’t use that as an excuse for performances when we don’t hit the mark”. Why mention it at all then?
1 Go to commentsNo mention of the yellow card for Harlequins which really cost them.
3 Go to commentsThought you’d left us Nick. Good to have you back writing for us. So hunter ikitau works? I reckon wright kellaway as two of the back 3. Tim Ryan and Toole looking good for strike winger but I still want the power of korobeiti and figure our forwards still need him to help them out. Million dollar question is who plays 10? I’m thinking Noah for his kicking and combo with wright. Reckon the pair adds up to an attack and kellaway will help. Can you comment on Zac Lucas in Japan? How is he going?
2 Go to commentsMack Hansen, Ethan Roots, Taine Plumbtree, Louis Lynagh, Emmanuel Meafou? Which country do you want to pick your Barbarians from?
3 Go to commentsInstead of apologising, try to act like an adult, fcknut.
3 Go to commentsLooks like the Force twisted his leg…ahem arm
6 Go to commentsScotland should change their name to the Barbarians
3 Go to commentsThe game was already over leave the bloke alone ….from a Welsh fan 😀👍
3 Go to commentsShamefully the Toulouse players acted like footballers, falling down feigning injury at the slightest knock. About time refs penalised this play acting.
8 Go to commentsAnother non Scot for the anti Scot Townsend. Soon there will be no Scottish born and bred players in the National team.
3 Go to commentsGreat comeback to the playing field by Richie Mo’unga after the loss of his father. A great performance by Richie . I know him well and he is a great guy. On and off the field one of the greatest for the Crusaders. Scott Robertson would have loved him in his All Black’s side. A very missed player and person.
3 Go to commentsYeah nah he comes across as a funny bloke, but that stopped abruptly after the Nutcracker Prince debacle✋
3 Go to commentsAt this point I can’t watch him without thinking he’s a dirty slimebag. He should have been banned for the same amount of time that Quinn was out. It took Tupaea near on a fricking year to get fit enough to play again and his leg will never be the same. The other crap thing is that he was at ABs level and now he has to claw his way back there when he could have had several games under his belt.
6 Go to commentsThe Black Ferns 7’s have been without Captain Sarah Hirini now since Dec 23 in Dubai where she suffered a bad ACL injury - hopefully she is on the road to recovery for Madrid and Paris. Now also have Tyler King and Shiray kaka on the Injured List but the Team still found a way to win in Singapore and claim the overall Title.
2 Go to comments